Valle de los Caídos

10 kilometers from San Lorenzo El Escorial, in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains, there is a Grand memorial to the Gervais of the Civil war, called the Valley of the Fallen (Valle de los Caídos).The territory of the complex covers 13.6 square kilometers of forests and rocks, reaching a height of 910 meters. The monument's register includes the names of 34,000 thousand people, both francoists and Republicans, buried in the Valley. The complex, which includes a Basilica cut out of the rock and a huge cross over it, began to be built on the orders of Generalissimo Franco immediately after the end of the war, in 1940. The dictator positioned the construction of the monument as a symbol of national redemption and reconciliation. The complex is one of the most significant monuments of Spanish architecture of the 20th century, a striking example of the neoerreriano style. The style of "herreriano" originated in the late 16th century, to it belongs, in particular, the monastery of the Escorial, the name of its architect, Juan Herrera (Juan de Herrera) and gave the name to the style. As an example of Severiano can lead building The Ministry of aviation in Madrid. The project of the complex was designed by architects Pedro Murugus and Diego Mendez (Pedro Muguruza, Diego Méndez).

The cross, set on a granite rock 150 meters above the Basilica, is visible for more than 40 kilometers (you can see it on the road to San Lorenzo from Madrid). This is the largest cross in the world, its height is 152.4 meters, and the crossbar is 65 meters wide.

The cross is decorated with sculptures by Juan de Avalos.

The pedestal is 25 meters high and is surrounded by statues of the four apostles - John, Luke, Mark and Matthew.

The figures around the base of the cross represent the Christian virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and sobriety. There is a service Elevator inside the cross.

Some of the construction workers were recruited from prisoners, mostly political members of the Popular front. As it is not surprising, but the legislation of the dictatorial regime prohibited forced labor, even for violators of the law. For participation in the work, they were offered reduced sentences, in addition, they were paid 7 pessets per day, and they could transfer this money to their families. One of the nationalists 'mottos was" El trabajo enoblece " (work ennobles). Estimates of the number of prisoners employed at the construction site range from 600 to 20,000. Official documents show quite different figures: in total, 2,643 workers worked at the construction site, and only 243 of them were convicted. During the entire eighteen-year construction period, 14 fatal accidents were registered. The monument was officially opened on April 1, 1959. According to official data, the construction cost was 1.159 billion pesetas, based on donations and proceeds from the state lottery draw.

A funicular line is laid to the base of the cross, but it was not working at the time of my visit.

In the Parking lot, I found a poster offering to take part in a walking ascent to the cross, and go down from the back of the cliff to the monastery, where the bus would be waiting. The total length of the route is 5 kilometers, such pilgrimage trips are held on religious holidays.